Man pleads guilty to writing bogus check for sports car

An area man pleaded guilty Tuesday to writing a bogus check for a Pontiac Firebird being sold by a Sherman Township man.

Jack D. Napier, 50, of Mentor, will be sentenced April 17 for one count of passing bad checks. With no prior felony convictions, he faces six to 12 months in the Huron County Jail and isn't eligible for a prison term.

In a plea deal, Huron County Prosecutor Russell Leffler dismissed one count each of grand theft of a motor vehicle and failure to appear.

The checks charge is for an offense between March 16 and 30, 2011 when the victim had the Firebird for sale for $6,900.

"They talked about the price," Leffler said.

Napier got the victim to lower the price to $6,500. Leffler said the defendant wrote the man a check, received the title for the car and a couple days later, told the victim there was a $12,000 check that wouldn't clear.

"We checked his records; there was never such a check," Leffler said.

The prosecutor credited the victim for going through the appropriate process about Napier's check to him, but said, "the check was never able to be made good."

"There have been plenty of chances for him to return the vehicle, but nothing has been done," Leffler said in January.

On Oct. 16, Huron County Common Pleas Judge Jim Conway issued a warrant for Napier's arrest after he failed to show up for his final pretrial hearing. At the time, Huron County Public Defender David Longo told the judge that Napier took his "friend's word" that the charges against him had been dropped and he didn't need to come to the courthouse.

Napier later posted a $5,000 bond and was released from the Huron County Jail.